A group of family offices from the Middle East who are investors in private equity firm Investra Investments have acquired Riverside Business Park in Stoke UK for $19 million.

With offices in Dubai and London, Investra is a private equity investor with over $1.58 billion in cumulative transactions, investing in the UK and US. Last year was the first year of trading for Investra Capital in Dubai and so far it has advised in excess of $110 million.

Bahrain investment firm Investcorp has acquired the Spanish firm Fritta a producer of intermediates for the ceramic industry.

Established in 1973, Fritta produces ceramic frits and glazes, ceramic colors and inkjet inks. It has two frits manufacturing plants in Spain and Vietnam and two glaze mixing units in Italy and Mexico. (In 2014, Fritta is forecast to generate sales and EBITDA of around €100 million and €16 million).

Dubai investment firm Centaur Holdings has announced investing in South African IPC Mining to expand its Nungu coal mine in South Africa.

The Nungo mine is 5 km west of Middelburg Town in South Africa. Its coal reserves are located beneath the surface. Centaur Holdings has offices in Dubai, London and Bermuda and is a global investment holding company with interests and investments ranging from asset management, wealth management, private equity, venture capital, mining and agricultural investments.

The summit, which is being held in Dubai 17-18 March 2015, provides an up-to-date overview of the most attractive citizenship by investment and international residence planning options . Find more details about the event on its website.

(If for any reason you can not attend, feel free to download our Middle East Investors Directory, now in its sixth year of publication, to get a sense of investors from the region.)

Established in 2006, BRN Sleep Products exports to over 50 countries. In its domestic market it has 11 company-owned retail stores in Turkey. Dubai's Abraaj Group currently manages $7.5 billion, investing in the growth markets of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, Turkey and Central Asia.

M1 Group, a Middle Eastern investment firm based in Lebanon, is emerging as the lead buyer of London's Pepe Jeans fashion firm - Reuters is reporting.

The expected deal amount is not yet disclosed, but the seller's expectation was reported around $792 million. Other investment firms in competition to buy the firm were Paris-based private equity firm PAI Partners and Qatar Mayhoola Investments. (Pepe Jeans is majority held by private equity firms Torreal, Arta Capital and L Capital and was launched in London in 1973)

We have just released the 2015 edition of DubaiBeat's "Middle East Investors Directory". Now a total of 452 Middle Eastern investment firms and 652 contacts from those firms are listed in our investors directory.

This update is released in line with our regular enhancements to the directory - now in it's sixth year of publication. The last major updates have been released on Sep-2009, Jan-2010, Mar-2010, Jan-2011, Nov-2011, Oct-2012, Aug-2013 and Jan-2014.

As before, since the volume of the directory has increased rapidly - now at 159 pages -, we are also including the raw Excel files of all 452 firms and 652 contacts. (At the moment the raw Excel files are free when you order the directory. So order and download now!)

The Manhattan at Times Square Hotel is a 22 storey property and features 689 rooms and suites. The five-star Boscolo Aleph Hotel in Rome Italy is a 6,500 square meter hotel comprises 96 rooms and suites over six floors. ARTIC’s current portfolio comprises 24 hotels and projects in the Middle East and Africa, Europe, and North America.